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Home education this week 14 September 2018

Home educating wears so many disguises. Sometimes it looks like books and papers all over the dining table. Other times, it is a week of adventures with very little book work. Most of the time, it is somewhere in between. This week, for us, was filled with adventures, and exhausting, but we loved it.

Monday, Kenn and I attended an all day training class and Isabelle spent all day at a home educating friend's house. she packed her lessons in her backpack, and somehow managed to come home with them completed while also enjoying a whole day of play.

Tuesday, Isabelle and I left early (for us) for the city to meet up with the home ed group and watch the Pandas documentary at the IMAX theatre which is in the Melbourne Museum. Of course, we stayed on to play and chat with our friends. It was a long and gratifying day, working on friendships. I think we were finally home about 4:45, just in time to start supper. We completed one lesson on the train.

Wednesday is Park day. After lunch, we head out and meet up with our home ed group at the local park. This is a great extended play for the children to get deep into their play with children of all ages. It could easily be recorded as physical education, and science, probably some of the other Key Learning Areas, too. Ironically, socialization isn't one of the KLAs that we are expected to cover.

Ah, we have made it to Thursday. Finally, a day we stayed home. By this time, I totally dismissed book learning for the rest of this week. A friend has asked if his daughter can stay with us for the day, and of course, I said yes. Isabelle and I were reading in our pajamas when they pulled into the driveway and scurried to get on some clothes before they got to the door!The girls spent the day playing and cleaning (I know!). We walked down to the playground for a play and chat with the ducks in the afternoon, and enjoyed cookies for afternon tea before she left. It was a fun and lovely day.

And finally Friday -- Game day! yes, another day with our home ed friends, but this time we stay home, having invited the entire home ed group to come to our house for an afternoon of board games, chat, free play, and snacks. Typically, we have 3 - 5 families show up, and a good time is had by all. One of the other moms summed up what these Friday afternoons mean to her saying it was so relaxing for her to have just a few hours where the children are entertained and she gets to be with the other women. It feels like having the afternoon off. And that is exactly what I was aiming for when I started doing Game day.

And that's it, our home educating for this week. Well, it's the big, easy to record parts of it anyway. Learning and the joy of learning is happening all day, every day in our home.

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